Alastair Charles Lewis (Ally Lewis) is a professor of

Atmospheric chemistry Atmospheric chemistry is a branch of atmospheric science that studies the chemistry of the Earth's atmosphere and that of other planets. This multidisciplinary approach of research draws on environmental chemistry, physics, meteorology, comput ...

at the

University of York The University of York (abbreviated as or ''York'' for Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a public Collegiate university, collegiate research university in York, England. Established in 1963, the university has expanded to more than thir ...

and the

National Centre for Atmospheric Science The National Centre for Atmospheric Science (NCAS) is a world leading research centre, formed in 2002 and funded annually by the Natural Environment Research Council. NCAS research falls into three key areas. These are air pollution, climate an ...

(NCAS). He has been Chair of the UK Government's independent science advisory body on air pollution, the Defra Air Quality Expert Group, since 2019. Lewis became Chair of the Department for Transport Science Advisory Council in 2021. He is currently a member of the Environmental Sustainability Panel of the UK Civil Aviation Authority. He holds a Royal Society Industry Fellowship (2024–2028) working with the fine chemicals company Givaudan SA on new approaches to solvent minimisation.

Education

Lewis attended Sir Joseph Williamson's Mathematical School, Rochester, and then studied chemistry at the

University of Leeds The University of Leeds is a public research university in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It was established in 1874 as the Yorkshire College of Science. In 1884, it merged with the Leeds School of Medicine (established 1831) and was renamed Y ...

followed by a PhD in atmospheric and analytical chemistry supervised by Mike Pilling and Keith Bartle, awarded in 1995.

Research and career

He is known for his development of analytical chemistry methods that are applied to air pollution monitoring and atmospheric chemistry research, and particularly the use of

gas chromatography Gas chromatography (GC) is a common type of chromatography used in analytical chemistry for Separation process, separating and analyzing compounds that can be vaporized without Chemical decomposition, decomposition. Typical uses of GC include t ...

to measure

volatile organic compounds Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are organic compounds that have a high vapor pressure at room temperature. They are common and exist in a variety of settings and products, not limited to house mold, upholstered furniture, arts and crafts sup ...

(VOCs) and the composition of liquid fuels such as gasoline and diesel. He was the first person to use comprehensive gas chromatography ( GCxGC) to establish the complexity of

volatile organic compound Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are organic compounds that have a high vapor pressure at room temperature. They are common and exist in a variety of settings and products, not limited to Indoor mold, house mold, Upholstery, upholstered furnitur ...

s found in urban air, completed while on a research sabbatical at

RMIT University The Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (abbreviated as RMIT University) is a public research university located in the city of Melbourne in Victoria, Australia., section 4(b) Established in 1887 by Francis Ormond, it is the seventh-o ...

, Australia. He held a lecturer position at the

, as a joint appointment between the Schools of Chemistry and Earth & Environment before later moving to the Department of Chemistry at

in 2003. He currently works in the Wolfson Atmospheric Chemistry Laboratories at York. Between 2007 and 2012 Lewis worked part-time for the

Natural Environment Research Council The Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) is a British Research Councils UK, research council that supports research, training and knowledge transfer activities in the environmental sciences. History NERC began in 1965 when several envir ...

as their Theme Leader for research programmes in new technologies. Between 2008 and 2022 he was a science director at the

, with specific responsibility for air pollution and atmospheric composition research. Lewis has published a number of commentary articles on air pollution science and policy in the UK, US and China. He has also made a number of appearances on TV and radio discussing vehicle emissions and

indoor air pollution Indoor air quality (IAQ) is the air quality within buildings and structures. Poor indoor air quality due to indoor air pollution is known to affect the health, comfort, and well-being of building occupants. It has also been linked to sick build ...

. He has been widely quoted as being sceptical about the value of air pollution removal technologies such as smog towers and roadside filter systems, and the wider sustainability of air filtration. He has raised potential problems associated with hydrogen for home heating, highlighting the negative impacts of emissions of NOx and the concentration of those emissions in poorer neighbourhoods. With Prof.

Chris Whitty Sir Christopher John MacRae Whitty (born 21 April 1966) is a British epidemiologist, serving as Chief Medical Officer for England and Chief Medical Adviser to the UK Government since 2019. Whitty was Chief Scientific Adviser to the Department ...

and Dr Deborah Jenkins he published a future research needs strategy on Indoor Air Quality. He has collaborated with Peter Edwards at York to evaluate low cost air pollution sensor technologies and with David Carslaw on diesel engine NOx emissions. Although primarily a chemist, he was named in a 2015 list of the World's 100 most influential analytical scientists. His research career was documented by the Science History Institute in 2011, part of series of interviews with atmospheric scientists.

Awards and honours

Lewis was awarded the Desty Memorial Prize in separation science at the Royal Institution in 2001, a

Philip Leverhulme Prize The Philip Leverhulme Prize is awarded by the Leverhulme Trust to recognise the achievement of outstanding researchers whose work has already attracted international recognition and whose future career is exceptionally promising. The prize sche ...

in 'Earth Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences' in 2004, the SAC Silver Medal in 2007 from the Royal Society of Chemistry, and the John Jeyes Award for Environment, Energy and Sustainability in 2012. He was awarded the 2022 Lord Lewis prize for significant contributions to the development of science policy.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lewis, Alastair Charles Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Academics of the University of York People from Chatham, Kent Atmospheric chemists English chemists Air pollution in the United Kingdom Philip Leverhulme Prize winners Alumni of the University of Leeds